The 4th

Elise is now 4. Four years old is, like, really not a toddler anymore. Sometimes I picture and treat Lou as a toddler and that should probably stop.

Things Elise is into:

-Disney princess palace pets

-Paw Patrol

-dinosaurs

-coloring

-digging in dirt
-making Sadie mad

-talking to herself

-changing her clothes 15 times a day

-princess dress ups

-making up songs

-donuts
-making faces
-snuggling

Things Elise is NOT into:

-brushing her hair

-wasps

-washing her hands
-cleaning up
-soccer

For her birthday Elise wanted a cake with a dinosaur. She has been talking about this for 6 months. She never wavered. The girls helped me clean the cake batter bowl.

She was slightly upset when I made a cupcake cake (frosted a bunch of cupcakes together), but she got over it when it was covered in Oreo crumbs.


About a month ago she went to a friend's birthday party at Lowe's Xtreme Air Sports and decided she had to have her party there too. Luckily, it was very reasonably priced and I am all for parties away from my house, so we copied her friend Bode's party.

 It was probably the easiest birthday party I have done so far. We held the party on the morning of her birthday. We drove a few of the kids from our neighborhood with us and then other friends met us there. We brought some balloons and the cake. Then the kids just played their hearts out for 2 hours. I couldn't get any close range pictures because the kids were all over the place the whole time. The kids that came were: Madelyn Hawley, Emett Faucette, Jersey and Finn Smith, Bode Ricks, Kaitlyn Preston, Quinn Sullivan, Jenna Hansen, Roman Weight, and then my girls.

 Camille was in love with the foam pits. When I put her down she'd make a beeline for the pit and then just crawl off the edge and laugh and laugh. The kids thought it was fun to jump in next to her.

Later in the day Elise got down to business with all her new toys. She was ecstatic to open a box from Mimi and Paco, which contained jewelry and a dress, which she happily modeled. She also used birthday money from great-grandparents for another Disney princess palace pet.

 

We gave her a BMW power wheels toy. I saw it on clearance at Wal-mart a month ago and figured she'd like it. She really struggles with the steering, so right now the girls squeeze in together (it is definitely made for 1).

It was a great birthday for Lou. She felt very special, which is essential on a birthday. I can't wait to see what she does this year. 

The Females

On this Mother's Day I have been thinking about all the great women I have in my life. These women help me to be a better person, and in turn, better mother. 

First up: friends. I have some amazing friends. Friends since childhood, since college, since the earliest mom years, and even since just last year. My friendships with these women enrich my life. Some of them have been through unimaginable things and I am in awe of them. Some of them serve me more than I deserve. Some of them respond to every crazy health question at any hour (ahem. Melissa). All of them make my life better.

Next: mother-in-law. Carolyn is one of the most thoughtful and creative people I know. She sends little care packages for each holiday, often with amazing hand-made items. I do not attempt to compete with her crafting ability. One of my favorite things about Carolyn is she never wants to miss out when we are all together. She will sit on the couch half-asleep for hours, but if you ask her a question she will insist she is awake, sometimes to the point of being mad we are accusing her of sleeping. I also love all her little sayings, such as "what's up with that?" "nutritious and delicious" "the scoop-de-doop" and "cool, refreshing beverage". Carolyn is constantly serving others. I wish I could be as patient as she is. My kids are very lucky to have her as their Mimi.

Third: sisters. I have wonderful sisters. I learn from each one. 

My older sister Meredith puts an incredible amount of effort into motherhood. She has twin 1-year-olds and a 3 1/2 year old and her husband is a medical resident (aka gone most of the time). I imagine if I were in her shoes I would feel content with just keeping my kids fed and occasionally bathed. Meredith puts tons of effort into doing fun and educational things with her kids. 

My middle sister Alicia teaches me about being non-judgmental. She is open about her past struggle with depression and helps remind me to take a step back and consider what others might be going through that I don't see or understand. I love when she laughs hard and covers her mouth. Her daughter Addy is one of the smiliest children I have ever seen.

My youngest sister Hillary has a huge heart. I have been so impressed with her as she spent this school year as a first-time teacher in Detroit. It was incredibly difficult from the get-go, as she was hired as a math teacher and was told just before school started she would be teaching physics instead. Most of her students come from difficult home situations and some are even homeless. Hillary has spent hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars on her students. She keeps a drawer of food to give out to them. She averages 12 hour days at work and then gives out her cell phone number so she can help more when she's at home.

Finally: mother. My mom is not your typical Mormon home-maker (not that there's anything wrong with that). My mom worked as a computer programmer until I was 8 (at which time she gave birth to her 6th kid) and then got her teaching certificate when I was 16 and began teaching high school physics. She is incredibly smart and throws herself into everything she does, whether it is teaching or fulfilling her church calling. I remember her talking about not being able to sleep the weeks leading up to Girl's Camp because her mind was too busy thinking of logistics and ideas for camp. Another thing I learned from my mother is to always follow through on commitments. Her life was understandably busy, with 6 kids, but my mom always showed up. One of my favorite things from my childhood is that my mom took the time to tuck each one of us into bed every night and do happy and sads (share 1 happy and 1 sad thing from our day). This guaranteed we each had a few minutes of one on one time with her every day. And finally, I feel like my mom was real. If we pointed out things that were unfair in life, she'd acknowledge and discuss it, but most likely tell us "life isn't fair". If we had a question about religion she would take the time to discuss it and not shy away from or downplay it. She shared past struggles. She never told us we were the best at something if we weren't. She apologized when she thought she made mistakes in her parenting. I remember her apologizing after yelling at us and telling us she really wanted to work on that, but the funny thing is, I don't remember her yelling very much. I love watching her interact with my kids now. She is a very fun grandmother. 

Plain Old Fun

Spring is always such a renewal for me. Basketball season is over. The weather is beautiful. We get to spend lots of time as a family.

One recent FHE activity was a neighborhood walk and hill rolling

Outside water fun

Poring over books from the school book fair

Daddy-big girl date to see Shrek the Musical

Lowe's Xtreme Sports. This was our first trip but will not be our last. So fun.

Just your traditional Faucette-Nielson get together when the dads are out of town. Kaylie helps me function when Daniel is traveling. Her husband works for BYU's men's basketball team and also travels a lot. 

Dinner with Uncle Matt. We hadn't seen him in 2 months and the girls would not leave him alone. 

Soccer Talk

 We are halfway through our girls 1st soccer season. When I signed Sadie up I just assumed Lou would be excited about playing also. Not....so much. Elise is too young. While Sadie happily hustled her way through her first game, not getting the ball much but having a good time; Elise whined her way through her first game. The only thing she enjoyed was playing goalie. She stopped the ball 1 out of 5 times it came to her. She got to take goal kicks, which was very fun to her. In the picture below she went to kick it and fell on her bum. After that she was done playing.

 The next few games were more of the same. Below are pictures of her goofing off with her friend Kaitlyn. Elise played the first few minutes of the game and then refused to go back in. At one point a parent alerted me to the fact that Lou was running through the brush up behind the field. At the last game Elise did not play at all. We should not have signed her up this young.

 Sadie is a great age for soccer. She is incredibly fun to watch. She is slightly over-competitive, but that to be expected with us as her parents. She counts down to the days to each game and remembers many details about them all. She was thrilled when they finally got their first win this week. Below she got a stop as goalie and threw the ball to her teammates. Then she cheered on her team, the Cheetahs with some other teammates.

12 Months

 Camille is 1 year old! That is crazy. She is mostly the best baby ever and I am nervous for her to grow up and not be so perfect anymore.
This month has been big for Mills. She is cruising around like she owns the joint and pooping with no regard for clothing, bedding or people. When I attempted to take 12 month pictures she would not sit still. I tried giving her toys and books to hold but she didn't care much, so she crawled around her room while I took pictures. Once she realized my phone was out she climbed on me to take it.

 On Millie's birthday I tried to think of things she would like. I came up with... a bath. Her big sisters were so excited about her birthday that they wouldn't leave her side, so it was a Nielson girl bath.

 For dinner we had Cafe Rio and Camille enjoyed her quesadilla. When it came time for cake Camille was curious about what to do. She kept a straight face for the candle and the singing. Then she slowly tasted a bit of the frosting and...gagged. I cut a few small chunks of cake, which she ate, but the cake went mostly untouched.

A few tricks at 1 year:

-signs all done

-waves hi/bye

-gives kisses
-shakes her head no
-gives high fives (sometimes)

-pulls herself to standing on everything- and is very proud of it

-walks along things
-smacks her lips to both signal she wants your food and to blow kisses
-makes a beeline for any book she sees so she can rip out pages
-puts everything in her mouth and gives me a guilty close-mouthed smile when I catch her

-crawls up stairs but not down
-poops up her back at least once a day. That comes from the Nielson side, I can assure you.
-pulls my hair (very much deliberately- picture shows her after pulling my hair and laughing)

-stands alone for 30 seconds
-loves baths
-loves phones
-rapidly tears out baby wipes if you leave the container open


Official 12 month photo